Present: James Colville, Alex D, Klara C, Mssr Leech
Phrase of the trip: “70m of rope and 25 mallions and we still failed to bottom the bastard!”
Despite a slick morning, by the time we arrived at Jingling the cave was full of cavers. As were most other holes on the hill. We had a bit of deciding to do. Where could we get a dry trip in without getting changed again where JC would have a chance to practice his rigging? Suddenly, inspiration hit me. Valley Entrance!
Loading up with the longest rope in the van (70m) and all the metalwork the club has, we headed into the bottomless plastic drum. Although it was rather wet (the stream outside was spilling out of its canalised channel) the ‘duck’ was not noticeably higer than normal. Beyond it however the normally dry passageway was more like a canal, with the shorter members of the group hitting notes they hadn’t managed since 13 in the take-your-mind-off-things sing-song.
Soon we were at the take-off and JC got out his tackle. Being his first time, it took him a while to work out how things went together and his initial attempts were very fumbling. Knowing his natural youthful vigour would see him right, the remaining 3 backed off to remove performance pressure and take a look up the aven preceding the take-off.
Returning to the rope, we found JC well in his stride and set on using all the length he had so we followed along the roof traverse (now you understand the trip phrase!). Beautifully P-hangered, the route sets out along the right hand wall and after an initial free-hanging section has a mixture of rope-work and ledgy-romping. All in all, a top spot for perfecting the alpine butterfly and practicing free-hanging traverse with an easy (if on that occasion very damp) escape route.
We used our 70m and metalwork before having a picnic on a ledge by a dig whilst watching some fools struggle up the streamway in over nipple-deep water. Not one for me with the sump beckoning! A much more proficient exit ensued and we all left the cave declaring a return trip with the full rope length and all the gear we can beg, borrow or steal to complete the traverse.
A top trip with a very different view of a often visited bit of passageway.
[I recall seeing a rigging topo a while ago; I think the traverse requires 200m of rope – Ian]